Why We Feel Yelp Is In Optima Tax Relief’s Pocket
With an overwhelming number of unchallenged claims that Optima Tax Relief employees write the vast majority of Optima Tax Relief’s 5 star reviews, a full investigation was conducted into Yelp, among other so-called user review sites, by the U.S. Watchdogs.
Breaking News Story: Optima Tax Relief/Jesse Stockwell: And The Spin Goes On
HERE ARE THE FACTS Yelp and Optima Tax Relief don’t want you to see!
The facts they uncovered are presented here. The following was reprinted with permission in its entirety.
And if you think that SuperMoney’s reviews are any better, you should know that SuperMoney was founded by and is owned by the founder and owner of Optima Tax Relief, Jesse Stockwell, (who used to be known as Jesse E. Torres IV). See the full SuperMoney story: The Spin Machine
Why did Jesse change his name? Google Jesse E. Torres IV.
Reprinted from the U.S. Watchdogs: Is Yelp in Optima Tax Relief’s Pocket?
After our in-depth investigation into Yelp’s claim that “Advertisers get no special treatment“, our opinion is that Yelp’s credibility equals that of the Obama Administration: they both out and out lie.
Want to know the facts about Optima Tax Relief and its Founder, Jesse Stockwell, see: Wealth on the backs of Mexican Americans.
Yelp’s BIG LIE: We posted numerous reviews that meet Yelp’s posting standards and all were removed and hidden under the “Yelp not recommended section” where unsuspecting visitors, relying on Yelp, will most likely never see them, and where their ratings, generally 1 star, are removed from the total, thereby not reflecting the true rating of the company.
We posted over 30 negative reviews of the companies founded, owned and operated by Jesse Stockwell, who changed his name from Jesse E. Torres IV to allegedly hide from the bad press of R.I.C.O. charges filed against him and Debtmerica by his father.
Each of our reviews came from different users, different states and different accounts. Every one of them met or exceeded Yelp’s supposed standards, yet every one of them was removed and sent to Yelp’s Purgatory, their hidden, “Not recommended” section.
It gets worse: While we have to speculate here, we came to the conclusion that Yelp is reading emails between Yelp Members. Each and every Yelp account that we used to send a message through Yelp to other members was completely removed from Yelp. Was that a coincidence, or clear and undeniable evidence that Yelp is monitoring its users mail?
If you have to use Yelp, we recommend that you ignore their Yelp Recommended Reviews and go directly to the Yelp “Not Recommended Reviews”. The link is located at the bottom of the page, and be sure to click the “see all” link. Here you will see at least a few of the negative reviews on a company.
WARNING! Also note how many reviews have been completely removed, you can’t even see them. Did we mention that when Yelp removes an account, there is absolutely no mention of them or their reviews?
To those who have unjustly had Yelp hide or remove their reviews and ratings of Optima Tax Relief, please add them as comments here where real ratings will never be removed.
Be watching for the KloudKover Equalizer where those who did business with a company in reliance on Yelp’s claims, and were economically hurt, will be able to file a lawsuit against Yelp for damages.
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CRAP. STAY AWAY.
I don’t know what these other guys are talking about when they give 5 stars and “have to pay IRS significantly less” as this is not true. At least not for me, a real person. These 5 star people must be employees or something.
The other reviewer here has it right. 1000 just to LOOK AT YOUR CASE. 2500 to actually DO SOMETHING. They are pushy, have no customer service manners, their departments do no talk to one another (you will RESUBMIT stuff over and over again), they are only interested in closing the deal, you paying, and don’t care that your life is ruined by tax problems and that its not your fault. They only care about getting paid.
THE OUTCOME: nothing. No settlement with IRS. I have to pay a lot which I don’t have the means to pay for 5 years. I will have to get rid of the cars and commute from now on. I could have done this myself. I could have just filled out a form with the IRS and did an installment agreement and not paid almost 3000 to these bozos.
The only benefit with going with these guys is a very expensive delay tactic. You basically pay almost 3000 to get IRS off your back and delay the inevitable. They also file your current tax forms if you havent yet.
Overall bad experience. Not worth the money. No results to show for it. Extremely dissatisfied. I looked at other tax resolution companies though, and the outlook doesn’t look good.
I hired optima a year and 3 months ago , I would not advise anyone to ever go here, this is why when I hired optima I needed them to do over my 2011,12,13 taxes try to get th extra fees reduced and just pay off the years I was audited , when I first contacted them I sent in with my financial packet allot of receipts that the irs said they were going to just disallow , all my work and med UNTILL I can get them done, over well I sent my packet to optima and they contacted me three times asking for the documentation I already handed in then I was told by my case worker oh I found it it was misplaced I don’t think they found it at all my wife and I spend a Saturday getting the packet ready and have proof of all we sent in I was in no trouble one year three months ago now I just got my final intent to levy letter and not one thing has changed I have the money to pay I just needed three things done and they were not in a year and three months ago now I read the back of the levy notice and this is all stuff I could have done myself they now want to put me on a protected payment plan I didn’t ask for payments at the last second effort it looks like I an going to have to pay the total amount fees and everything that legitimately should have been lowered so over all I paid the optima fee all up front over 2500 and now get to pay the irs more than I should have so if you plan on ushering optima it kinda like throwing money out the window and you can do all that they have done for myself by yourself it has been the most stressful year ever and would not recommend to my enemies.
We hired optima a bout a year ago and we still do not have a resolution! We have had our pay checks garnished and optima was not able to fix the first one but just barely fixed the second one by about half an hour. We have been told we owe different amounts and to make payments and then told a different amount. We have now been told to make two different payments that come up to over 300 a month, I have no idea how we can make that but I guess that doesn’t matter! They did nothing to try and reduce the amount of money we owe. The IRS took our taxs and it hasn’t even been subtracted out of what we owe! But I guess optima feels like they did something! I feel like we paid them a whole lot of money for nothing!
Don’t give them your number. They will blow up your phone non-stop. When I did talk to them they were rude and acted like they were doing me a favor!!! Greg was his name and If you think that they are going to help you, think again. They are all about the $$$$. There are hundreds of places on web. Don’t need someone that makes you feel like a loser.
So disappointed. I contacted in hopes of handling an old tax debt that would have been paid by all the tax refund garnishments if not for all the fees the government adds on. After several months and thousands of dollars to Optima, the only resolution was forebearance where interest will still be accrued on my tax balance. All of the money I paid this company, I should have instead focused toward my tax bill. Sick to my stomach.
I had a federal tax debt and Optima charged an initial fee of approx $900. After waiting for the investigations etc. I was called by a representative and told that my actual debt was 2x the amount that i owed. Then they wanted an additional fee of $2500 and the only payment arrangement was $500/mo for 5 mos. They couldn’t work out any other arrangement. Since my retirement is only $1500/mo there was no way I could do that and I had to stop there. If I had $3500 on hand I would have sent it to the IRS. Beware before you send any money.
We had a horrific experience with Optima. Not only did they take our money upfront but they failed to get out IRS debt reduced in any way. Our “case manager” failed to communicate with us and we only received status on our case when we asked for it. You can imagine our surprise when we were informed our case was settled and our payment plan was never presented to us for discussion or approval. Now we have a 7 year payback plan (we would never agree to such an extended period). Optima did NOTHING to help us. With what we paid them I could have paid down my debt by 20%. Optima is a scam and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. Lucky folks with great reviews here. Sadly, we are most dissatisfied and Optima could care less!
I initially became wary of this company when I made some inquiries and they bombarded me with emails and phone calls. They wanted to do a thorough tax analysis which would be costly and not just address my current tax concerns. I am glad that I decided not to go with them. I remembered that I have an employee assistance program at work which includes $1700 towards the services of a tax attorney. I met with her and she cut to the chase, informing me of my options and the steps that I can take on my own with the IRS which will save a lot of money in attorney’s fees in the long run .